HANG TIME NEW JERSEY — Kia Rookie of the Year voting should be pretty simple this season. There are only nine rookies who have averaged at least 20 minutes per game for 50 games or more. And none of those have done it for a team with a winning record.

Winning records don’t matter much in Rookie of the Year voting. None of the last 10 winners played for teams with winning records. So there probably won’t be anything stopping the media from voting for Michael Carter-Williams (of the 16-59 Sixers) or Victor Oladipo (of the 21-54 Magic).

That doesn’t mean that he’s the best player among all rookies. He’s just had the biggest opportunity, playing for a team that stripped its roster bare over the course of the last 10 months.

Carter-Williams has been the only rookie to start every game he’s played in, and his back-up — Tony Wroten — was never a threat to take any of his minutes, especially since developing the rookie has been priority No. 1 in Philadelphia this season. Even if winning games was a priority, Wroten isn’t good enough to take minutes away from MCW.

Not only has Carter-Williams led rookies in minutes per game and usage rate, but the Sixers have played at the *fastest pace in the league. So, when it comes to racking up per-game numbers, he’s had a three-tier advantage over other rookies.

* The fourth fastest pace of the last 20 years, actually.

We can adjust for all that, though. NBA.com’s PIE statistic takes a player’s numbers (with weights added to each) as a percentage of the overall numbers that were accumulated while he was on the floor. And only one rookie ranks higher than Carter-Williams in terms of PIE…

All stats are through April 3, 2014.

Rookies who have played 1,000 minutes, sorted by PIE

Player

GP

MIN

eFG%

TS%

Usg%

PIE

Mason Plumlee

62

1,079

63.2%

65.3%

16.9%

10.5%

Michael Carter-Williams

63

2,181

42.2%

46.9%

26.0%

9.8%

Nick Calathes

64

1,069

49.5%

51.0%

17.9%

9.8%

Victor Oladipo

73

2,325

45.3%

51.2%

24.0%

9.6%

Nate Wolters

58

1,310

46.0%

48.6%

16.7%

9.3%

Cody Zeller

75

1,266

41.9%

49.1%

18.2%

8.7%

Trey Burke

63

1,995

44.2%

47.2%

22.1%

8.1%

Kelly Olynyk

63

1,215

48.6%

52.8%

20.0%

8.0%

Ryan Kelly

52

1,103

51.2%

57.3%

15.4%

7.8%

Giannis Antetokounmpo

70

1,705

46.9%

52.5%

15.3%

7.6%

Matthew Dellavedova

66

1,132

50.8%

53.7%

13.3%

7.5%

Tim Hardaway Jr.

75

1,732

52.9%

55.8%

19.1%

7.4%

Hollis Thompson

70

1,559

54.5%

56.7%

11.4%

6.0%

Tony Snell

70

1,178

47.0%

48.9%

15.0%

5.8%

Steven Adams

74

1,102

49.7%

53.6%

11.7%

5.2%

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

73

1,446

45.9%

48.3%

13.6%

5.0%

Ben McLemore

75

1,934

44.4%

47.9%

16.7%

3.9%

eFG% = (FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA
TS% = PTS / (2 * (FGA + (0.44 FTA)))

By the way, this certainly isn’t the best rookie class in recent memory, but it might have the longest names.

So Mason Plumlee has made more of his minutes than Carter-Williams has, and has also done it for a playoff team. But MCW has played twice as many minutes. And if you’re voting for Rookie of the Year, it’s hard to argue against that.

Of the 17 rookies who have played at least 1,000 minutes, only three have a positive plus-minus. They are Steven Adams (plus-52), Matthew Dellavedova (plus-46) and Nick Calathes (plus-9). And Adams’ team has been much better with him off the floor.

Several more rookies can say they’ve made a positive impact…

Rookies who have played 1,000 minutes, sorted by on-off-court NetRtg differential

On court

Off court

Difference

Player

MIN

NetRtg

MIN

NetRtg

NetRtg

Rank

Nate Wolters

1,310

-1.8

2,330

-13.0

11.2

10

Matthew Dellavedova

1,132

+3.1

2,561

-7.3

10.4

16

Giannis Antetokounmpo

1,705

-4.4

1,935

-13.0

8.5

25

Michael Carter-Williams

2,181

-8.9

1,454

-15.2

6.3

47

Ryan Kelly

1,103

-1.9

2,502

-7.6

5.7

53

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

1,446

-0.8

2,174

-6.3

5.5

59

Kelly Olynyk

1,215

-2.2

2,395

-7.4

5.3

61

Trey Burke

1,995

-7.3

1,615

-10.1

2.8

97

Nick Calathes

1,069

+1.1

2,551

+0.8

0.3

135

Hollis Thompson

1,559

-12.0

2,076

-11.0

-1.0

150

Victor Oladipo

2,325

-5.8

1,330

-4.6

-1.2

151

Mason Plumlee

1,079

-1.4

2,513

+0.6

-2.0

169

Cody Zeller

1,266

-2.8

2,364

+0.9

-3.7

192

Ben McLemore

1,934

-5.0

1,696

+0.0

-5.1

204

Steven Adams

1,102

+3.4

2,475

+9.3

-5.9

209

Tim Hardaway Jr.

1,732

-5.3

1,951

+2.0

-7.3

221

Tony Snell

1,178

-4.5

2,467

+4.3

-8.8

229

NetRtg = Team point differential per 100 possessions
Rank = Among 236 players who have logged at least 1,000 minutes for one team

If Tony Snell played starters minutes for a rebuilding team, he would definitely be in the discussion for rookie of the year. Thibs plays him inconsistent minutes which causes Tony to play inconsistent. Regardless, Snell has a bright future and will be a excellent compliment with Rose in the future.

It HAS to be Michael Carter-Williams. Other rookies have done well, but he has excelled. Not many rookies can say they’ve won Player of the Week honors, in their very first NBA week. He did…and his performance through the rest of the year has not really dropped off. Victor Oladipo should be ranked #2 but has not consistently excelled as MCW has. Mason Plumlee has progressed nicely, and I think he could be a star someday..a starting center for sure. He was rough early this year, but watching most of the Nets games, his improvement has been dramatic and enjoyable, but not enough to take the Rookie of the Year award from MCW.

Dellavedova, with Irving out, makes Cleveland a formidable team. He empowers Jarret Jack, and gives the offense in general the kind of flow that prevents opposition breakaways. After MCW he’s the best new point; and there are some good ones this year with Burke, Wolters and Calathes performing well too.